Well, dear church family and friends, this Lord's Day morning we'll once again be considering that parable of the rich fool in Luke's Gospel 12 verses 13 through to 21. So it's the parable of the rich fool in Luke's Gospel 12 verses 13 through 21. We see really leading up to the parable almost a build up in verses 13 and 14. This build up, there was a man out of the multitude out of the company that asked the Lord Jesus Christ a question. He said, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. Master, that word master is rabbi. That's what he was referring the Lord to. Master, a rabbi, a Jewish teacher, as it were, of the Lord, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And the Lord Jesus replied to him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And friends, according to Jewish custom, rabbis could settle legal disputes when it came to the division of property and property rights and between heirs. And this really explains the real reason why this man came to Christ. The real reason. Because he wanted the Lord to persuade his brother to share the inheritance with him. You see, the Lord Jesus to him was little more than a rabbi, someone who could be influenced. It would seem very evident that this man, that perhaps the half of the inheritance didn't fall to him, because his brother may have been the older brother, and so he might have got a double portion. But yet he's seeing if he can get half the inheritance to fall to him, And so he's thinking of the Lord Jesus as just another rabbi, another morally good person, someone who could persuade his brother and make a moral case, as it were, to persuade him. And so his view of Christ, dear friends, was completely off. And I'm sorry to say, but this is a case nowadays in much of the Christianity we see in the West. People's view of Christ, that he's just a morally good person. We just get good morals from him and such the like. He didn't realise that this was the Messiah standing in front of him. This was the Christ, the saviour of the world, the saviour of souls standing here. And Christ says rightfully to the man in verse 14, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? Who made me? In other words, Christ did not come to come into this world to resolve the petty disputes of men, as it were, over property. Of course, he can do that easily. He came on a higher mission. He came into this world to set up his eternal kingdom, the kingdom of God, the heavenly kingdom. He did not come as a political revolutionary to overcome the Roman occupation of Jerusalem and Israel. He came for eternal purposes. He came to save sinners from their sins. Not to get involved in petty disputes. And so Christ came to set up his eternal spiritual kingdom. Not a carnal kingdom. He came to save souls. That was his mission. From their sins. This was the kingdom of God. And hence, really in verse 15, where the Lord Jesus instructs the multitude over covetousness, he says, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. So he's warning people here. He's going straight back to the commandments, the 10th commandments. Over-covetousness here. Our lives are more. than just the here and the now and what we collect. We came into this world with nothing, naked, and it is a sure fact that we're going to leave with absolutely nothing. Everything that we gain in this life, friends, is not going to mean anything. All the abundance, all the possessions of this life, what people think of us, our reputation. You know, so often people in our society think, well that person's got that position, or he's got that person. as a wife or a girlfriend or whatever. And that's how a person is held because of their reputation or their position or their influence, whatever it is. And that's not who you are, Christ is saying. Who you are is what's in your soul, the depth of your soul, what's in your heart. Because that's what's going to matter in the end. All the things you build up in this life, it doesn't matter. Christ here reminds the people of the 10th commandment. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, thy neighbor's house, and so on, anything that is thy neighbor's. To not give your heart to be consumed by the things of this world. To covet really is to unlawfully desire to possess that which belongs to another person. And everything belongs to God. And friends, we are all guilty of this. All of us here can put our hands up and say we all fall way, way short of the mark. Because you see if we have not obeyed the first commandment, to not put any other gods before him, but to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, all the time, every minute of every day, and to love our neighbour. We have all broken God's commandments. You see, it starts with the first commandment, to love God with everything that you've got. If you don't do that, It ends with the 10th commandment. And the 10th commandment really sums up all of them. Really, because if we don't do the first one, the 10 sums up everything. We will break all of them. And we will do so abounding in it. We're all guilty friends. Covetousness has wrought untold misery. upon our marriages, upon our families, and as we know, upon nations where we see wars. All these things are because man's covetous heart. Christ is saying that true happiness Happiness, lasting happiness, happiness and contentment for the soul cannot be gained by the abundance of the things of this world. It is evident. It is evident. There is a higher purpose to my life and to your life. We're made for God. We're made to have a relationship with Him. to live for eternal purposes. We have eternal souls and we've forgotten about that in our society. We've forgotten that we have an eternal soul and that we have a conscience and God speaks to us through conscience. He reveals himself to us in many ways and really to enforce these truths Christ speaks to us in a very simple, yet powerful, profound parable, starting in verse 16 and 17. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God says, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentiful. Verse 17, and he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. Notice, dear friends, in this parable, it begins with that which comes from the ground. The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentiful. It begins with the ground. The ground is cursed. The ground, dear friends, everything that raises from the ground will go back to the ground. Those who labour for that which is from the ground, as it were, whether it be wealth, uncertain riches, whatever it may be, it's all going to go back to the ground. The ground is cursed. The certain man here A course is a picture of what we are all like by nature. What we are all like by nature. We can never ever be satisfied unless we have the life of God dwelling in us. Unless we have Christ reigning in our hearts. We're always going to want more. When I get a nice car, I'm going to want a better car. I know people I know people that cannot withstand not having the latest gadgets. They always have to have the latest iPhone or the latest gadget or the latest technology or device. They cannot do without it. That's man's heart by nature. I cannot do, I have to keep up with the fashions and the trends of this world. I cannot do without it. I need my retail therapy. I need to keep up with the Jones of this world. That's us by nature, we can never ever be satisfied. We've got this defect in us, friends. Because we're made for God. We're made for a higher purpose. And what was it that the man... What was it that this rich man's ground... What was it that made, sorry, this rich man's ground to bring forth plentiful? What was it? It was that which comes from the heavens, that which comes from above. It was the sunshine, it was the rain, it was the things of God that brought that which is dead to life again. Yes, we are called to be good stewards, but it was that which came from heaven that brought plentiful for this man and this parable today. You know, often when we are blessed with plentiful, often also comes great famines not long after. And you see this man wanted to take up his ease. But you see, he doesn't know what's on the horizon. It might be a great famine. And spiritually speaking, this can be the case. Friends, everything that we've gained in this life, is it not from God? Is it not from God? It is God that gives us the fruit of the ground, the fruit of the womb, our families, our possessions. It's God that gives us all of these things. Do we acknowledge Him for it? Do we love Him for it? Do we seek His face? The man in today's parable did not regard the Lord God, did not regard God's providence for all that he had. Rather, he thought this was from his own ingenuity. He thought it was from his own talents, his own works. Well, these things are because of my own ingenuity, because of my own talents. But dear friends, where are the people in the times gone past that thought in such a way? Are they not in the grave? Those who just live for the here and the now, are they not in hell? We're told in verse 17 that this man posed a question within himself of what to do of all his fruits and his abundance. He posed that question within himself, didn't he? He thought within himself, he was convincing himself. Soul, I'm convincing myself here. that this is the right thing to do. Notice he thought with himself, he did not seek to be a good steward of what God had given him. You see God has given us everything that we have and we are to be good stewards of what he has given us. We are to seek his counsel over our lives and not live for ourselves, not believe in this world's philosophy to live for number one, live for yourself, eat and drink merry, be merry for tomorrow we die. We are to be good stewards of what God has given us. Notice secondly that he was also greedy. He says, what shall What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? His stores were already full. He had stores full of food already, yet he wanted more. He was unhappy with what he had. And isn't this just the nature of man? Man can have food for years stored up, but he wants more. As at work, more, I've got to have more. His hope was in his wealth, was in his worldly security. That was his confidence, that was his trust. And thirdly, notice friends that God knows the thoughts of all men. God knows what's in our hearts. Our thoughts are not our own. God knows the intent, the imagination of the thoughts. Imagine that. He knows every imagination of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. He knows, dear friends, our heart's desire. He knows our thoughts. He knows what we're living for. Our thoughts are not hid from God. He who made the heart, does he not know what's in it? And who made the mind, does he not know what we're thinking about? Friends, we are greatly mistaken if we think that we can hide our thoughts from God. Well, in verse 18 and 19, we see the inevitable effects of those who continue to seek their own interest over that of their makers. In effect, they steal from God. That's what we could all do if we live away from God and our sin. We steal from Him, the glory due to His name. The man says in verse 18 and 19, this will I do. I'll pull down my barns and build greater. and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. Verse 19, and I will say to my soul, soul, that was much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat. Drink and be merry. Notice, firstly friends, the confidence this man has in his own works and that not of the works of God. I, this will I do. I will pull down my barns. I will build these greater barns. I will store up all these things for years to come. I'm going to do all these things. He acknowledges that it's all about Him. It's all about His works, not about the works of His God. Will He really be able to do all those things and to enjoy them for many years at the expense of His never-dying soul? Says who? Like I said, what if? What if a famine were to come along? And this is the folly of all of us, you see. Dear friends, often when there's plenty, they can also very shortly become a famine as well. And that's true, isn't it? And you see young people, when they're growing up, they're full of confidence and full of vitality and life and give themselves to the fashions and the Hollywood ideals. And when they grow up and they have all these pleasures, like the prodigal son, spend their life on ruinous, riotous living, and then That plenty comes, starts to, that burning the candle at both ends of the string starts to weigh in, isn't it? Sickness comes, disappointment comes, heartache comes. It comes to us all, friends. Friends, in this do we not see the fragility of life? The fragility of life. Who knows what another day will bring? And like I mentioned earlier, our hearts go out to the families of the tens of thousands of people who have just lost their lives. In Turkey, tens of thousands of people, within a few days, were brought to stand before their maker, having to give an account to their stewardship, to the souls and the lives that they have been given of God. They weren't expecting it. Those tens of thousands of people, probably many of them just living for the here and the now. Believing this world's philosophy, just to eat and be drink and you're just an animal, eat, drink, be merry, watch telly, live for the here and now. And within a day or two, they were suddenly brought up to stand before their maker. And if they're not in Christ, if they haven't been born again, or friends, what a terrible thought. the reality that they'll be cast into hell, an eternal hell. They never thought that was going to happen. Many of them probably thought that, well, that's far off. But that's the reality of it, friends. And this is a reality for us. Who knows what another day will bring? Who knows what's going to happen to us this week? A car accident? Perhaps going to the doctor and find out, well, I've got terminal cancer. I don't want to scare anyone here, but these are things that happen every day. Friends, they happen in our friendships, in our close circles. Who knows what another day will bring? The fragility of life. Will we just live for the things of here or now? Or will we take seriously the word of God? Sickness, financial ruin, betrayal, death, dear friends, it will come to us all. at one time or another. We can either listen to the word of God or we can listen to the word of man. That's what we're confronted with. You and I are closer to death than we know it, friends. We really are. God's spirit, it says in Genesis, will not always strive with man. There will be a time, dear friends, where that door will be closed. It will not always strive. Yes, God is merciful and so kind and so loving, but his spirit will not always strive with man. If you continue to run away from God, and trespasses and sins and ignore God's revelation to you through the word, through conscience, through the heavens. If you keep on ignoring that, there is a day of great reckoning. How far will you push God's patience? How long will you prioritize the creature over your creator? Friends, I did this for years. For years, I did this. I spent my time in vanity and pride right up until my 20s. And you know what? There were times where I actually almost lost my life. Very, very close times. Times where I got sick, and times actually where I had some very close calls. It was very possible that I could be in hell then, back then. But you see, dear friends, God had mercy upon me. I resisted God's spirit for years. People were trying, were saying, they were praying for me, they were pointing me to Christ, but I just hardened myself, coveted the things of this world. Notice, friends, the folly in verse 19 of man's self-justifying, foolish, covetous heart. I will say to my soul, Soul! Thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease and eat and drink and be merry. This is what man's heart is by nature. It's a self-justifying heart. I'll say to my soul, I've got all these things. I'm convincing myself that all will be well in the end. And just this last week I've spoken to several people and one of their main comforts to these things is when you're dead, that's it. No friends, that is not it. When you die, the judgement. We're all going to stand before, and we know that we are distinct. We're distinct from the animals. We know that we have a soul and a conscience. You see friends, man seeks to convince himself that all will be well, if he just gives himself to the abundance of this world, at the neglect of the eternity to come. Will all be well, if I just pay off my mortgage, and if I just keep in good health, if I get these things, all will be well. And notice, friends, what the covetous and carnal heart of man will live for if he has not the Saviour. Take thine ease. Eat food, drink, and being merry, as it were. These are the typical things. Some of these are good things. It's not wrong for people to have nice food and to drink and to have some amount of leisure time and to have comfort from things. But you see dear friends, those things which God has given us for our enjoyment and our comfort can be our greatest afflictions. If we set our heart upon them, if we're consumed by them, if we cover them more than God, anything we put before God is our God. Take thine ease. I'm never going to face hardship again. You see, we look to the securities of this world. Take thine ease. I'm never going to come to financial ruin. I've got wealth. I've paid off my mortgage. I've got a good job. I eat well. So, I've got good health. I've got luxuries. I've got an abundance of food. I've got a great social status. I've got entertainments. I've got lots of friends. I've got beauty, I've got fitness, I've got all these things. You know, it's not going to happen to me. And friends, never, never has a society had so much as we do here in the West and been so miserable. It's been so miserable in these perilous days that we're living in. We see the brokenness of our society. We see, dear friends, mental health cases have gone through the roof. People are just completely distraught in our society because we've left off. We've forgotten that we have a soul and that we are accountable to our God. And this is the inevitable outcome of when men and women and children inordinately give their heart's affection to the things of this world at the neglect of the eternity to come, the world to come. being full of the vanities of this life will desensitise us to the more pressing matters of our soul and of the only Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, of the urgency that we all have to get right with God, to have peace with God, to have truth in our hearts. Friends, every day that, every day, that we drown out those faculties that God has given. I'm using my eyes. I'm using my ears, I'm using my senses, I'm using my conscience, I'm using all these things to drown out God's revelation to me. It's a problem. We all have it. That's what we do by nature. We drown out the faculties. God gave us eyes and made us upright to behold him, unlike the animals. We're made upright to behold the heavens that declare His glory. That tells us and speaks to us that there is an almighty God that can save us. God speaks to us, friends, through our consciences. Are you listening to Him? He convicts us of our sin, of our guilt, of our need, of Him. Are you listening to Him? Or are you drowning out that conscience? You know, there's many ways we could drown out the conscience by what we're watching, by what we're viewing, by what we're not doing. Are we crying to our God? Are we seeking his face? Are we listening to the conscience that God has given us? That's his warning bell. It's warning us. God speaks to us through the conscience, through creation. He speaks to us through all these things. Are we listening? Ephesians 5.5 says, for this ye know, that no whoremonger, no unclean person, no covetous man who is an idolater have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. If your heart is just given to covetousness, well, you're an idolater. You're living away from God. You must close with Christ. You must come to the Saviour at once, before it's too late. God speaks to us, friends, through his word. And every single one of Christ's words, and in the words of the Bible, came true. Not one of his prophecies has failed. Not one of the things concerning Israel has failed, and concerning us. He speaks to us through his word. Will you listen? I ignored him for years, years. But you know, God brought me into such a state. He brought me low, almost in financial ruin. And then, finally, I started to hear God speaking to me. And I cried out, this poor man cried out to the Lord, on a train, locked myself into a bathroom toilet. In Italy, a place called Vedenza, and I cried to the Lord to save me. I was literally at my wits end. And that day, the Lord Jesus saved my soul. And I know God saved me and changed my heart and changed my life. I'm not perfect, none of us are, but I know I now trust in someone who is perfect, who is righteous enough to make up for my unrighteousness. whose obedience made up for my disobedience, who took my howl and my sin and my punishment, and now I live in him, and I depend upon him. Is this true of us? Has there been a time in our lives where you've closed with God? Really? And you've been brought from death to life? It's urgent, friends. It's urgent, isn't it? For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul? What shall it profit us? In the end, if people think of us in such and such a way, think of this person as his position, or what they look like, or their fashion, or what friends that we have, or what career we have, or what money we have, or what person's on our arm, what will it matter? What will it matter? The trinkets of this world. when we're ushered into eternity, naked. Naked, I came in and naked will I return thither again. It's not gonna mean anything that we build up in this life. Only that which is in our hearts and our souls. That's what's gonna matter in the end, isn't it, friends? For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul? One soul of one sinner is of more value than all the things of this world. You know, when, and I know I say this often, but when Christ was taken up to that exceedingly high mountain and was made to see all the splendour of this world, and Satan said to him, well, all these things will I give you if you'll bow down and worship me. You know, that's what Satan does to us, doesn't he? He says, all these things I will give you. See all the lights, see all the pleasures? dangles a carrot in front of the horses, I'm going to give them to you. But you know what he doesn't show us? He doesn't show us within those mansions, within all those houses, all the sin, disappointment, depravity that goes on in there. All the heartache, all the pain and suffering. He doesn't show us those things. Does he? He shows us the lights. He shows us the mansions. He shows us the lust. He doesn't show us the sin and what that will bring us in the end. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and shall lose his soul? Your soul is the most important asset that God has given you. It's the most important thing that you must prioritise in your life. Don't believe in our culture that you do not have a soul. God has given you an eternal soul. Your flesh and your body is but a fraction of the eternity of the ocean of this life. Your soul is going to last for eternity. It is a great folly to give your heart to the temporary friends when you will endure forever. But where will you endure? And this is the reality of it. That if you reject God in your life, every good thing, all the plentiful that you enjoy now, in hell, that's going to be gone. We call it God's common grace. God's common love. We know something of that now. Even unbelievers know something of that. I can know of tasting food and enjoy that food. I can know when I have a smile from my wife and the warmth that brings me or kind word or encouraging word. I can know of a beautiful sunset and I can look and I can feel it all. I can know all these things. and derive a sense of pleasure and goodness from these things. That's from God. In hell, no such things will exist. You see, in hell, all common grace and goodness will not be there. It's like the rich man. The rich man that did not give to the poor, did not give to the means of grace, to the things which will last forever, did not give his heart to Christ, and when he was in hell, he desired for his tongue just to be wet. Why was that? Because he used his tongue as it were for himself, to praise himself. for the things of this world, not to praise God. He wanted Lazarus to give him water. Hell is going to be a place of constant regret forever, only if. It will be a worse nightmare reliving it over and over again. A place of constant regret. Only if I had listened. I wouldn't be in this place of torment, of regret, and in a sense of all the wickedness I gave my heart to, they're just going to be coming over to you like a rerun movie, as it were, over and over in your heart. It's just going to be rerun to you. And after a million years has gone by, you're still going to be in that place of hell. where all God's common goodness has been taken away, because you've rejected the Saviour. And that's why we appeal, as the way I do, and Gospel preachers appeal, with urgency. It's not because I want to scare you, it's because this is real, this is going to happen. And because I earnestly care for your soul, that you close with Christ. And that you seek Him with all your heart. and that your soul is saved and you know that peace and that assurance that only Christ can give you. You see, you must close with Him before it's too late. Well, in verse 20 and 21, we see Christ's response, do we not, to those who continue to bite the hand that feeds them, to continue to live off the Lord and abuse the Lord, as it were. Verses 20 and 21 say, says the Lord says, thou fool, This night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then, whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Verse 21, so is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Take note, friends, our bodies and our souls do not belong to us. They belong to God. Our bodies are our temples. You know, there's that saying, isn't there, where people perhaps who give themselves to fitness and gym, your body is your temple, they say, don't they? Your body is your temple. But they're right in a sense. It's our temple that encloses the more precious part of our soul. Our bodies, friends, and our souls belong to God. Do not believe in the false philosophy of this world that you belong to yourself. That is a satanic philosophy. You belong to God. He is the landlord of the universe. We are the tenant farmers, as it were. He gives us our bounty. We live off his bounty. He is the one that has given us all these things. We're on loan, dear friends, and one day he will acquire it at our hands. How have you treated, how have you been a steward of the body and the soul that I have given you? Have you sought me? Have you loved me? Have you sought me with all your heart? I sent messengers after you. I've put all these things to help you, and yet you carried on. carried on drowning out conscience, drowning out faculties, living for the things of this world and neglect of the others at eternity. The landlord of the universe knows, dear friends, when we will all, when every tenant will be called to account. He knows when every tenant will be called to account. And friends, if thy soul shall be required of thee this night, How is your account looking to God? If your soul will be required to you this evening, and the Lord come as a thief in the night, as he said he would, what will your soul be looking like, the account? Will it be in the red? Will you still be in a great debt of sin? or will you be credited in the green with Christ's imputed righteousness? And believe in him by faith that he bore your sins on that cruel cross of Calvary some 2,000 years ago according to all the prophecies of old that came true. He bore that sin and that punishment which you deserve, so satisfying God's justice. It's because he loved you. He spilt his holy blood for your Adam-tainted sinful blood. He cleansed you. And if you truly believe in that, with all your heart, and you pour out your heart to him, and you say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, well, he promises he'll save you. And he'll put his spirit within you. And your great debt of sin being in the red, will, friends, that will be paid. That has been paid by Christ, if you truly by faith believe in him. The wonderful doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. Not by works, lest man should boast, but by faith. I trust, and by faith, Lord, I come to Thee, and I put my hands upon Thee, O Lamb of God, and my sins are imputed upon the innocent, a holy, blemishless one, the one that has never made a mistake, the one that's only qualified to take my sin, and then the Lamb is struck down, and He has made an atonement for me for the remission of sins. I believe in Him. and I am accounted righteous now in the sight of God. Has this happened? Dear friends, have you still a heart governed by fleshly impulses, a covetous heart? Do you still love self more than God in your life? The commandment is, isn't it, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And it also means that to truly love God, it means to love him more than yourself, to deny yourself and take up your cross. In other words, to look outside of yourself and wholly, wholly put your life and your soul in the hands of Christ and believe in him and depend upon him all the days of your life. Have you lived, dear friends, for this world's fading treasure? And it's just like me. For years, it's left you empty. The broken systems of this world will just leave you empty. And that's a problem we see all around us. People are empty. And they're trying to fill this world, they're trying to fill their lives and their hearts and their souls with the temporary. If I could just get this person, if I could just become beautiful again, all the nail bars, all the beauty salons, well if I could just look 21 again, if I could just get this again, if I could just get back up from this disappointment or this sickness or this, I could just get back to that feeling again. And the problem is that we may get back up again, but there'll be another famine. And dear friends, there's one famine that we're not gonna get through, and that's death. And that will happen to all of us. Unless we have the fullness of Christ's salvation, the way, the truth, and the life in us, we're always gonna be found wanting. Turn to God, dear friends. Be rich towards him. Don't build up treasure here down below. The door of God's salvation is open for you today. Whilst there's breath, there is life. But you may say, but you don't understand preacher. You don't understand my sin. You don't understand the pull, the world, the things that I've been into, the life that I've lived. You don't understand. I don't think God can forgive me because of my sin, because of the things I've been through. I'm such a wretched sinner, it's far too late for me. The awful sins I've committed, the people I've let down, the people I've failed in my life. I've failed so many people and I've failed myself. I've broken God's commandments, I've lived a life away from you, back towards the sun. I've lived many years away from God. Will God accept a guilty, wretched sinner like me? Well the answer is, He will. Because God promises that those who seek shall find, and the door shall be open unto them. When you do so with all your heart, seek that treasure which came from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, He came to enrich our souls, to save us from our sins. Seek that which can enrich your soul for eternity. God promises those who seek shall find and the door shall be open unto them. We all get it wrong, friends. We all get it wrong. We all miss the bullseye of obedience. All our righteousness is as filthy rags in God's sights. The wages of sin is death, dear friends. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're all guilty sinners before God. But we need him. We need his salvation. We need the righteousness of another to make up for our unrighteousness. Will you seek him this day? If there's perhaps someone here and you haven't yet closed with Christ, will you seek him? Seek his righteousness. Will you cry to him today in your hearts? Matthew 6.33 says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Seek first the kingdom of God. Don't worry about all the other things in life. They're just going to pale into insignificance in the end. Prioritise your salvation. Prioritise the kingdom of God. The matters of your soul. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Seek to get right with your maker first. Everything else is not going to matter in the end. Hope and pray that all gathered here today will do this. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and what? Our righteousness? No. His righteousness. That's what I'm trusting in. His righteousness. If you're trusting in His imputed righteousness, like Abraham did, it will be accounted to you for righteousness. He will save you. He promised us to save you. And dear friends, everything else will be taken care of in your life. You see, perhaps the reason why we may be facing disappointment upon disappointment in our lives, it's because God's trying to speak to you. God's trying to bring you to a position, like he did with me, to a point where we must listen. You know, we can be like Israel, we can be a stiff-necked people. God often has to bring us very low for us to listen. Will you listen to him today, dear friends? But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Amen. Amen. Till Christ with his revived might, O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave The guilty spirit strayed to meet the wrath of hell. But in his righteousness arrayed, We're.